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Health response to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine

WHO

Increased access to a wide range of health care services is needed for the more than 5 million people affected by the humanitarian crisis in eastern Ukraine. Access to primary, secondary and emergency health care services, as well as medicines, is critically needed.

WHO is leading the Health Cluster and working with humanitarian organizations to provide primary health care services, medicines, ambulances and other essential medical items to ensure that Ukraine’s most vulnerable communities receive support. A total of 1.4 million of the 5 million affected people are considered to be highly vulnerable and in need of humanitarian health assistance.

In partnership with the European Union’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Department and the Canadian, Israeli and Norwegian governments, WHO is accelerating its support and human resources to deliver medical supplies and medicines to treat hundreds of thousands of people. Essential health services are being provided through mobile emergency primary health care units and emergency primary health care posts for communicable diseases, in particular tuberculosis, HIV and poliomyelitis, and noncommunicable diseases.

WHO also provides health services to pregnant women, people suffering from cancer and diabetes and those needing mental and psychosocial support. Along with the 700 000 people estimated to have been internally displaced within Ukraine, the Roma community, children, women and the elderly, as well as people living with disabilities and the chronically sick, constitute vulnerable groups that face the gravest health challenges.